The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family
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It's widely known that Oscar Wilde was precociously intellectual, flamboyant, and hedonistic—but lesser so that he owed these characteristics to his parents.
Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Wilde, rose to prominence as a political journalist, advocating a rebellion against colonialism in 1848. Proud, involved, and challenging, she opened a salon and was known as the most scintillating hostess of her day. She passed on her infectious delight in the art of living to Oscar, who drank it in greedily.
His father, Sir William Wilde, was acutely conscious of injustices of the social order. He laid the foundations for the Celtic cultural renaissance in the belief that culture would establish a common ground between the privileged and the poor, Protestant and Catholic. But Sir William was also a philanderer, and when he stood accused of sexually assaulting a young female patient, the scandal and trial sent shockwaves through Dublin society.
After his death, the Wildes decamped to London where Oscar burst irrepressibly upon the scene. The one role that didn't suit him was that of Victorian husband, as his wife, Constance, was to discover. For beneath his swelling head was a self-destructive itch: a lifelong devourer of attention, Oscar was unable to recognize when the party was over. Ultimately, his trial for indecency heralded the death of decadence—and his own.
In a major repositioning of our first modern celebrity, The Fall of the House of Wilde identifies Oscar Wilde as a member of one of the most dazzling Irish American families of Victorian times, and places him in the broader social, political, and religious context. It is a fresh and perceptive account of one of the most prominent characters of the late nineteenth century.
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Emer O'Sullivan. (2016). The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Emer O'Sullivan. 2016. The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Emer O'Sullivan, The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
MLA Citation (style guide)Emer O'Sullivan. The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
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- bioText: Emer O'Sullivan graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, and has completed an MA in Life Writing and a PhD in Virginia Woolf's literature at UEA, where she also lectured in English Literature. She is the author of The Fall of the House of Wilde and The Rebellion of a Dutiful Daughter. She lives in London.
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- The first biography of Oscar Wilde that places him within the context of his family and social and historical milieu—a compelling volume that finally tells the whole story.
It's widely known that Oscar Wilde was precociously intellectual, flamboyant, and hedonistic—but lesser so that he owed these characteristics to his parents.
Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Wilde, rose to prominence as a political journalist, advocating a rebellion against colonialism in 1848. Proud, involved, and challenging, she opened a salon and was known as the most scintillating hostess of her day. She passed on her infectious delight in the art of living to Oscar, who drank it in greedily.
His father, Sir William Wilde, was acutely conscious of injustices of the social order. He laid the foundations for the Celtic cultural renaissance in the belief that culture would establish a common ground between the privileged and the poor, Protestant and Catholic. But Sir William was also a philanderer, and when he stood accused of sexually assaulting a young female patient, the scandal and trial sent shockwaves through Dublin society.
After his death, the Wildes decamped to London where Oscar burst irrepressibly upon the scene. The one role that didn't suit him was that of Victorian husband, as his wife, Constance, was to discover. For beneath his swelling head was a self-destructive itch: a lifelong devourer of attention, Oscar was unable to recognize when the party was over. Ultimately, his trial for indecency heralded the death of decadence—and his own.
In a major repositioning of our first modern celebrity, The Fall of the House of Wilde identifies Oscar Wilde as a member of one of the most dazzling Irish American families of Victorian times, and places him in the broader social, political, and religious context. It is a fresh and perceptive account of one of the most prominent characters of the late nineteenth century. - reviews
- premium: False
- source: Publishers Weekly
- content: Emer O'Sullivan has made an indispensable contribution to Wildean literature. She goes back to the beginning and finds out where Oscar came from. Where he really came from. O'Sullivan's detailed portraits of Wilde's father, mother and brother are, at every page, compelling, informative and fascinating—especially to one who made the vain mistake of thinking he just about knew it all. The meticulous scholarship and insight she brings are fantastically valuable. This is a book that reminds us how very unlikely it is that a genius will be born in a vacuum: Oscar was, O'Sullivan demonstrates, every inch his parents' child.
- premium: False
- source: New York Times Book Review
- content: [A] success worthy of celebration . . . O'Sullivan's impressively comprehensive biography is equal parts political history, literary criticism, and Shakespearean tragedy.
- premium: False
- source: New York Journal of Books
- content: Deeply researched . . . O'Sullivan's book is strongest when she positions the Wildes within the larger framework of Irish history; many Wilde biographers glide over not only his mother but also his Irishness.
- premium: False
- source: The Wall Street Journal
- content: It is perhaps Emer O'Sullivan's greatest achievement that her characters come to life, bringing with them the world and culture in which they lived. She is generous with her details, putting her fingers down on many maps and tracing them for us, enlightening us about the politics of the day, and the way that the world seemed to those about whom she is writing. In short, Emer O'Sullivan's The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family seems the Oscar. And isn't that the greatest thing that any biographer can achieve?
- premium: False
- source: The Observer
- content: [O'Sullivan] has an eye for good details . . . and she renders memorable scenes.
- premium: False
- source: Kirkus Reviews
- content: Without Wilde's very modern genius for self-promotion, conceivably, there would have been no David Bowie or, indeed, Kim Kardashian . . . Absorbing.
- premium: False
- source: The Times Literary Supplement
- content: Another Oscar Wilde biography may seem supererogatory, but it isn't. Indeed anyone interested in Wilde should find it as fully fascinating as any of its predecessors. . . . A book to be wild about.
- premium: False
- source: Sunday Independent
- content: Meticulously researched . . . Her extensive journey into Wilde's family background is . . . a necessary, even vital one . . . Considering the fascinating new material it unearths in every chapter, this book's understated tone is striking . . . . Brilliant.
- premium: False
- source: Providence Journal
- content: What makes O'Sullivan's narrative so intriguing is how she cleverly links the Wildes'
story against the historical background of fin-de-siècle Dublin and London . . . This is a remarkable piece of work. And the best non-fiction book I've read all year.
- premium: False
- source: The Bay Area Reporter
- content: Sumptuous and perceptive . . . This richly detailed, smoothly readable and suspenseful biography is mesmerizing and tells old tales in a wider, broader context that fascinates.
- premium: False
- source: The Irish Times
- content: The glory of Emer O'Sullivan's new family biography The Fall of the House of Wilde is that at last we see the shiny icon Oscar as part of the constellation Wilde. . . . wholly absorbing.
- premium: False
- source: Irish Examiner
- content: A valuable addition to the scholarly reclamation of the Wilde name . . . The Fall of the House of Wilde does justice to the name of Wilde.
- premium: True
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- content:
October 15, 2016
In her first book, O'Sullivan sets out to place Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) within the context of a family where keen intellects, witty conversation, and literary talent were traits individually expressed but common to all. The book is at its best when covering the professional and social lives of Sir William Wilde and Lady Jane Wilde, Oscar's parents. While there is ample evidence that these eminent Irish Victorians deserve further study, they are not fleshed out here beyond the singular imposed dimension of impending ruin. The author oddly characterizes the biographical narrative of this family as an inversion of the American Dream--from riches to rags. The rise and fall of a family's fortunes is not an uncommon tale, especially after the death of its patriarch. For all of their collective brilliance and peculiarities this aspect of the Wildean story is mundane; it's what makes them common, not particular. VERDICT The author's analysis is thin and rarely achieves more than supposition or insinuation. Readers interested in Wilde and his family are better served approaching this text after reading Richard Ellmann's seminal Oscar Wilde.--Todd Simpson, York Coll., CUNY
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- premium: True
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Starred review from May 16, 2016
O’Sullivan describes this debut as “an attempt to put Oscar in the context of his family and the family in the larger context of the history of Ireland.” Her “attempt” is a success worthy of celebration. She follows Wilde from his earliest writing efforts to his star-making lecture tour through the U.S. and Canada, then on to the triumphs of The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest. She also explores how Wilde’s family influenced his life and works. Included are his father, a surgeon who championed Irish culture; his mother, a “fiercely independent” poet and intellectual who died a pauper; and his older brother, a lawyer turned journalist who was destroyed by alcoholism. Then there were Wilde’s lovers, including Lord Alfred Douglas, and Wilde’s wife, Constance Lloyd, an acclaimed beauty whom O’Sullivan describes as loving, forgiving, and naive. Central to the portrait are two court cases. In one, Wilde’s father was cleared of having raped a former patient but nevertheless had his reputation destroyed. In the other, Wilde himself was found guilty of “indecent acts” and served two years in prison. O’Sullivan’s impressively comprehensive biography is equal parts political history, literary criticism, and Shakespearean tragedy.
- premium: True
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July 15, 2016
A lively biography chronicles Oscar Wilde's unconventional Victorian family.O'Sullivan makes her literary debut with a family history of the Wildes: father William, a physician and Irish historian; outspoken poet and essayist Jane, "dubbed Ireland's Madame Roland" for her revolutionary views; Willie, their dissolute firstborn son; and, of course, Oscar (1854-1900), whose work, coterie of friends and lovers, and notorious trial for indecency comprise O'Sullivan's main focus. Family members' relationships with one another were often strained and, in the sons' adulthood, centered on money woes, a recurring theme in the biography. Jane was a rebel, but O'Sullivan does not support the assertion that she was a "soulmate" to both her sons, nor that she was, like Oscar, "a paradox--an intellectual coquette, unmarked by the stamp of her time and indifferent to public approval." On the contrary, Oscar emerges very much stamped by his artistic milieu and desperate for public approval. His trial echoed that of his father, who also incited a scandal when a lover sued him for libel; her "protracted smear campaign" provided delicious gossip for Dublin society. William died in 1876, leaving his family deep in debt. Financial troubles beset Jane for the rest of her life, forcing her to beg for money from Oscar, also dogged by debt. As a young man, the gregarious Willie seemed as brilliant as his younger brother, only kinder and more convivial. He studied law and then became a journalist, but he occupied himself with drink, courtesans, and prostitutes. Jane indulged him, all the while complaining to Oscar. O'Sullivan exuberantly recounts Willie's marriage to the redoubtable American newspaper titan Mrs. Frank Leslie, who thought the dapper Englishman (more than 15 years younger than she) would satisfy her sexually. He did not, and she divorced him. Drawing largely on published sources (biographies, letters, and the protagonists' own writings), the author weaves a brisk narrative of the family's, and Ireland's, troubles. A familiar portrait of Oscar with a fresh look at his eccentric relatives.COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- premium: True
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Starred review from September 1, 2016
Another Oscar Wilde biography may seem supererogatory, but it isn't. Indeed, anyone interested in Wilde should find it fully as fascinating as any of its predecessors. O'Sullivan imbeds Oscar's life in the context of those of his father, William (181576); mother, Jane (182196); and brother, William (185299). Physician, archaeologist, antiquarian, and folklorist, father William contributed valuably to ophthalmology and toweringly to the recovery of Ireland's past. Translator, poet, and mythographer, Jane passionately hymned the Young Ireland movement of 1848 under the nom de plume Speranza, and later, as, simply, Lady Wilde, blazed the trail for the philosophical and comparative study of myth and religion. Brother William was a brilliant society journalist but, alcoholic and depressive, more self-destructive than Oscar. They and their luminary associates are at least as enthralling as Oscar and his entourage, and the witty public candor and individual assertiveness each of them insisted upon got them into the troubles that drained their resources and, for the men, shortened their lives. O'Sullivan saliently notes that erotic obsessions that became scandals aired in court destroyed both father William's and Oscar's careers, and she ferrets out of Oscar's writings the epistemological relativism rife in early modernist art and the culturally subversive tactics of later postmodernism. A book to be wild about.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
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It's widely known that Oscar Wilde was precociously intellectual, flamboyant, and hedonistic—but lesser so that he owed these characteristics to his parents.
Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Wilde, rose to prominence as a political journalist, advocating a rebellion against colonialism in 1848. Proud, involved, and challenging, she opened a salon and was known as the most scintillating hostess of her day. She passed on her infectious delight in the art of living to Oscar, who drank it in greedily.
His father, Sir William Wilde, was acutely conscious of injustices of the social order. He laid the foundations for the Celtic cultural renaissance in the belief that culture would establish a common ground between the privileged and the poor, Protestant and Catholic. But Sir William was also... - sortTitle
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